
Copyright 1881, by W. J. BAKER, Photographer, Buffalo, N. Y. 



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ES A, GARFIELD 



Twentieth President of the United States. 



COMPILED BY 

HENRY J. COOKINHAM. 
n 



"This was the noblest Roman of them all. 

His life was gentle ! and the elements 

So mixed in him, that nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, ' This was a man !' " 

Shakspetv, 



• 

.NOV 186 



No.« ♦♦•••• 

UTICA, N. Y. 
CURT1SS & CHILDS, PUBLISHERS, 167 GENESEE STREET. 

MDCCCI.XXXI. 



a n 



Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D., 1881, 

by HENRY J. COOKINHAM, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, .it Washington, D. C. 






^om ^oocmbcr 19, M-. X). 1831, 

AT ORANGE, OHIO. 

COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 

STATE SENATOR. 

MAJOR GENERAL U. S. ARMY. 

MEMBER of CONGRESS. 

UNITED STATES SENATOR. 

PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES. 

JDieb September 19, M-. ^>. 18 81, 

AT ELBERON, NEW JERSEY. 



5 ccti cation; 



TO ALL THOSE KIND-HEARTED PEOPLE, 

IN WHATEVER PART OF THE WORLD'S DOMAIN, 

WHO, DURING THE LONG SUFFERING OF OUR 

MARTYRED PRESIDENT, 

MANIFESTED THEIR SYMPATHY WITH HIM AND HIS STRICKEN FAMILY, 

AND HOPED AND PRAYED THAT GOD, IN HIS INFINITE GOODNESS 

WOULD SPARE THE LIFE OF THAT GOOD AND GREAT MAN, 

THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 

AND MAY THE FRIENDS OF THE DEAD HERO, 

WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED UPON TO MOURN HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. 

BE SOLACED BY THE THOUGHT THAT, 

"ALTHOUGH MOST MEN CREEP INTO NAMELESS GRAVES, 

YET NOW AND THEN ONE OR TWO 

FORGET THEMSELVES INTO IMMORTALITY ;" 

AND THAT THE NAME OF 

JAMES A. GARFIELD 

IS INDELIBLY STAMPED UPON THE HEARTS OF MANKIND. 
Utica, N. Y. H. J. C. 



CONTENTS. 



Dedication, ....... 

Selections of Scripture read at Elberon, 

Prayer by Rev. Robert J. Young, . 

Hymn sung at the Services in Washington, . 

Selections of Scripture read at the Services in Washington, 

Prayer by Rev. Isaac Errett, D. D., . . . 

Eulogy by Rev. Dr. Powers, . . . . . 

Prayer by Rev. J. G. Butler, D. D., . . . 

Hymn " Thou art gone to the grave," sung at the Services in 
Cleveland, ...... 

Selections of Scripture read at the Services in Cleveland, 
Prayer by Rev. Ross C. Houghton, 
Address of Rev. Isaac Errett, D. D., at Cleveland, 
Garfield's favorite hymn, ..... 

Prayer by Dr. Charles S. Pomeroy, . . . . 

Address of Rev. J. H. Jones at the grave, . 

Latin Ode from Horace, . 

President Hinsdale's Benediction, .... 



PAGE. 

5 
1 1 

12 

r 5 
16 

18 

20 
22 

27 

27 
29 

31 

37 
38 
43 
46 



POEMS. 



By the Sea, 
Garfield, 
Garfield, . 



E. G., in Troy Times, 51 

E. C. Pomeroy, 52 

Edward Stoddard, 54 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Garfield, .... Utica Sunday Tribune, 55 

Garfield Lives Again, . . . John C. Ball, 56 

The End, .... Dr. J. G. Holland, 57 

Lying in State, . . . . F. W. Reeder, 58 

The Sad Minute Gun, . . John Banvard, 59 

Ipsa Virtute Major, . . . D. A. Casserly, Go 

Flowers on a Grave, . //. //., in The Independent, 60 

Columbia Sorrowing, . . J. Oliver Smith, 62 

Garfield, .... Puck, 63 

Our Dead President, . C. II. C, in Nino York Tribune, 65 

The President's Death — A Prayer, . Hartford Courant t 67 

Garfield's Life, . . . Theodore IV. Dwight, 68 

After the Burial, . . . Oliver Wendell I I>lmes, 70 

President Garfield, . . Henry //'. Longfellow^ 73 

James Abram Garfield, . . James Russell Lowell, 73 

England to America, . . . London Punch, 75 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Garfield's Speech to his College Classmates on the Eve of his 

Inauguration, . . . . . -79 

Garfield's letter to a Friend after recovering from a dangerous 

Illness, . . . . . . .81 

Garfield's Remarks on the First Anniversary of the Death of 

Abraham Lincoln, . . . . .82 



SERVICES 






ottage, 



Diberon, i\. u, 



September 2 1. 



Selections of Scripture read by the Rev. Charles J. 
Young : 

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord : Yea, saith the 
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors : and their works . 
do follow them. 

" We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens. Therefore we are always confi- 
dent, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are 
absent from the Lord. We are confident, I say, and willing 
rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the 
Lord. For to me, to live is Christ and die is gain. I am in a 
straight betwix two, having a desire to depart and to be with 
Christ, which is far better; there the wicked cease from troub- 
ling and the weary are at rest. And there shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any 
more pain. And there shall be no night there, and they need 
no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them 
light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Behold I show you 
a mystery — we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed : 
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. 
For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal 
must put on immortalit}^. So when this corruptible shall have 
put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immmor- 
tality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written : 
' Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy 
sting? grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is 
sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, 
who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' ' 



12 IN MEMORIAM. 



He then offered prayer as follows : 

O Thou, who walked by the grave of Bethany, that open 
"grave of the brother in Bethany ; Thou who had st compassion 
on the widow of Nain, as she bore her beloved dead : Thou 
who art the same yesterday, today, forever, in whom is no 
variableness, no shadow of turning, have mercy upon us at this 
hour when our souls have no where else to fly but to Thee. 
Thou knowest these sorrows that we are under. Oh, Thou God 
of the widow, help this stricken heart before Thee. Help these 
children and those thai are not here. Be their father. Help 
her in the distant State who watched over him in childhood. 
Help this Nation that is today bleeding and bowed in sorrow 
before Thee. 0, sanctify this heavy chastisement to our good. 
Help those associated with him in the Government. 0, Lord, 
grant from the darkness of this night <<i sorrow there may arise 

a better day for the glory of God and for the g I of man. We 

thank Thee for the record of the life that is closed : for its heroic 
devotion to principle. We thank Thee, Lord, that he was Thy 
servant: thai he preached Thee. Thy noble life and example, and 
that we can say of him now. " Bli ssed are the dead who die in 
the Lord, their works do follow them." Now, Lord, go with this 
sorrowing company in the last sad journey, to bear them up and 
strengthen them, O, God, bring us at last to the morning that 
has no shadows, the house that has no tears, the land that has 
no death ; for Christ's sake. Amen. 

After the service the remains of the dead President were re- 
moved from Francklyn cottage, Elberon, and taken by special 
train to Washington. There were on board the train, the 
family of the late President, President Arthur, all the members 
of the Cabiuet, Ex-President Grant and other eminent men. 



SERVICES 



m 



ne i 



oi toe witQi 



Washington, September, 23. 



in the Rotunda of the Capitol 

There were present the family and relatives of President Gar- 
field, President Arthur, Secretary Blaine, Secretary and Mrs. 
Windom, Secretary and Mrs. Lincoln, Secretary and Mrs. Hunt, 
Attorney-General and Mrs. MacVeagh, Secretary Kirkwood 
and Postmaster-GeneralJames, Ex-Presidents Grant and Hayes, 
Chief Justice Waite and the other members of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, United States Senators and Members of 
the House of Representatives, the Diplomatic Corps and repre- 
sentatives of many civil and military organizations. 

HYMN. 

Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep ; 

From which none ever wake to weep; 
A calm and undisturbed repose 

Unbroken by the last of foes! 

Asleep in Jesus, 0, how sweet 

To be for such a slumber meet! 
With holy confidence to sing 

That death has lost her venomed sting! 

Asleep in Jesus; peaceful rest 

Whose waking is supremely blest; 
No fear, no woe, shall dim that hour, 

That manifest the Saviour's power. 

Asleep in Jesus; for me 

May such a blissful refuge be; 
Securely shall my ashes lie, 

And wait the summons from on high. 



16 IN MEMOEIAM. 



Selections of Scripture read by Rev. Dr. Rankin: 

The Lord reignetk. The floods have lifted up their voice 
The Lord on high is mightier than the voice of many waters. 
Clouds and darkness are round aboul him ; righteousness and 
judgmenl are the habitatioD of his throne. By him kings 
reign and princess decree justice. Ii'' changeth the times and 
the seasons. He removeth kings and setteth up kings. 

For there is no power but of God. The powers thai be are 
ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power 
resisteth the ordinance of God; and they thai resisl shall re- 
ceive to themselves damnation. Cease ye from man whose 
breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of? 
For behold the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from 
Jerusalem and from Judah the mighty man. the man of war, 
the honorable man. and the counsellor and theeloquenl orator. 

There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain 
the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and 
there is no discharge in that war. There shall he be at resl 
with kings and counsellors of the earth, which built des 
places for themselves. The clods of the valley shall be - 
unto him ; and every man shall draw after him as there are 
innumerable beforehim. There the wicked cease from troubling, 
and there the weary be at rest. 

Then answered Jesus unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, he that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent 
Me, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation : 
but hath passed from death unto life. So him thai overcometh 
will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne: even asl also over- 
came, and sit down with My Father in His Throne. Blessed 
are they that du His commandments that they have right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 17 



And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their fore- 
heads. 

And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, 
saying : O, My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from 
me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. 

It became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are 
all things in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain 
of their Salvation perfect through suffering. The disciple is 
not above his master nor the servant above his lord. It is 
enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant 
as his lord. 

Let not your hearts be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe 
also in Me. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to 
you. Leave the fatherless children ; I will preserve them alive. 
And let thy widow trust in Me. 

And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all 
the city was moved about them. And they said is this Naomi ? 
and she said unto them, call me not Naomi, call me Mara ; for 
the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full 
and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. 

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great 
mercies will I gather thee. I hid my face from thee for a 
moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on 
thee saith the Lord, thy Kedeemer. 

And Jacob died and was gathered unto his people. And 
Joseph went up to bury his father. And. there went up with 
them both chariots and horsemen ; and it was a very great 
company. And when the inhabitants of the land, saw the 
mourning, they said, this is a grievous warning to thee. And 
they did unto him according as he had commanded them. For 
they carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in 



18 IX MEMORIAM. 



the cave of the field of Machpelah which Abraham boughl for 
a possession of a burying place. 

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write 
blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, 
yea, saith the spirit, that thev may rest from their labors, and 
their works do follow them. 

I would not have you to be ignoranl concerning those which are 
asleep, that ye sorrow not even asothers which have no hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
al.«>, that sleep in .Jesus will (rod bring with him. Wherefore, 
comfort one another with these words. Faithful is he that 
calleth you, who also will do it. 

The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the 
name of the Lord. 

Prayer by Rev. Dr. Isaae Errett : 

Our beloved President is dead. Raised by the voice of the 
people to the Chief Magistracy of this great Nation, he was 
stricken down by a murderous hand — cut off in his glorious 
promise, and all the high hopes and expectations connected 
with his administration of public affairs sunk into disappoint- 
ment and nothingness. Lord, as we stand in the presence of 
this fearful calamity, may our hearts be exceedingly humble 
before Thee, and as we are shortsighted, we pray that Thy hand 
may be reached down, and we may be taken through this dark- 
ness out into the light ; and enable us to realize that even in 
thickest darkness Thou dost not forget to be merciful. And 
while we deeply feel beyond what we can say in words, the 
bitterness of this affliction we cannot forget. 

O Lord, how much we have to be thankful for. We desire 
to praise Thee that though the President be dead the Nation 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 19 



lives, that though our Chief Magistrate is thus cruelly and vio- 
lently taken away from us the Government moves on in the 
peaceful performance of all its functions; that there is no jar in 
its machinery, and that the blessings of a good Government are 
still continued to us in all the land. For this we praise Thee 
and we humbly pray that the President who sits near to our 
departed President may be filled with all love of righteous- 
ness and truth, and be prepared in everything by the blessing 
of God for the faithful performance of his responsible duties. 
May he be able to guide the affairs of this Nation with dis- 
cretion, may party animosity and strife and sectional division 
be overcome by means of this sacrifice so that, one people, in 
a deeper sense than we have ever been, there may come bless- 
ings out of this terrible affliction. 

The reverend gentleman than in conclusion paid an eloquent 
and touching tribute to 'Mrs. Garfield, referring to the noble 
and Christian spirit which she had exhibited in the hour of 
sorrow and tribulation and exhorting her to look to God in the 
days of her affliction. He invoked the Divine blessing on the 
fatherless children, that the sons should, under the benediction 
of God, grow up to a noble manhood, and that the bereaved 
daughter might rise into a true, a glorious womanhood, and live 
to be the comfort of her widowed mother. He appealed to 
God to have pity on the dear old mother over the mountains 
waiting for the dead body of her darling son, now that she was 
old and gray haired. 



20 IN MEMORIAM. 



Eulogy by Rev. Dr. Powers: 

The cloud so long pending over the Nation has at last bursl 
upon tun' heads. We sit half-crushed amid the ruin il hae 
brought. A million million prayers and hopes and tears, as far as 

li an wisdom sees, were vain. Our loved one has passed 

from us. But there is relief. We look away from the body. 
We forget, for a time, the things thatareseen. Weremember 
with joy his faith in the Son of God, whose Gospel he some- 
times himself preached, and which he always truly loved. A rid 
we see light and blue sky through the cloud structure, and 
beauty instead of ruin, glory, honor, immortality, spiritual and 
eternal life in the place of deCay ami death. Tin' chief glory 
of this mam as we think of him now. was his discipleship in 
the school of Christ. His attainments a- scholar and - 
man will be the theme of our orators ami historians, ami they 
must ho worthy men to speak his praise worthily. But it is 
a.- a Christian that we love to think of him now. It was this 
which made his life to man an invaluable boon, his death to us 
an unspeakable loss, his eternity to himself an inheritance in- 
corruptible, undefiled and thai Eadeth not away. 

He was no sectarian. His religion was as broad as the re- 
ligion of Christ. lie was a simple Christian bound by no 
sectarian ties, and wholly in fellowship with all pure spirits. 
He was a Christologist rather than a theologist. He had great 
reverence for the family and relations. His example as 
husband and father is a glory to this ISation. He had a most 
kindly nature. His power over human hearts was deep ami 
strong. He won men to him. He had no enemies. The hand 
that struck him was not the hand of his enenry but the enemy 
of the position, the enem}- of the country, the enemy of God. 
He sought to do right man ward and God ward. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 21 



He was a grander man than we know. lie wrought even in 
his pain a better work for the Nation than we can now estimate. 
He fell at the height of his achievements not from any fault of 
his, but we may in some sense reverently apply to him the 
words spoken of his dear Lord. "Fie was wounded for our 
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon him." As the nations remember 
the Macedonian as Alexander the Great, and the Grecian as 
Aristides the Just, may not the son of America be known as 
Garfield the Good ? 

Our President rests ; he had joy in the glory of work, and 
he loved to talk of the leisure that did not come to him. Now 
he has it. This is the day, precious because of the service it 
rendered. Lie is a freed spirit; absent from the body he is 
present with the Lord. On the heights whence came his help 
he finds repose. What rest has been his for these four days? 
The brave spirit which cried in his body, "'lam tired,'* is where 
the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. 
The patient soul which groaned under the burden of the suffer- 
ing flesh "O, this pain," is now in a world without pain. Spring- 
comes, the flowers bloom, the buds put forth, the birds sing. 
Autumn rolls round, the birds have long since hushed their 
voices, the flowers faded and fallen away : the forest foliage 
assumes a sickly, dying hue, so earthly things pass away and 
what is true remains with God. 

The pageant moves, the splendor of arms and the banners 
glitter in the sunlight, the music of instrument and of oratory 
swells upon the air. The cheers and praises of men resound. 
But the spring and summer pass by and the autumn sees a 
Nation of sad eyes and heavy hearts, and what is true remains 
of God. "The Eternal God is our refuge and underneath are 
the everlasting arms." 



22 IX MEMORIAM. 



Prayer by the Rev. Dr. J. G. Butler : 

Our father, we bow before Thee with bleeding hearts. Thy 
judgments are unsearchable and Thy ways pasl finding out 
We rejoice in the lig lit thai comes from Thy throne in this 
hour of darkness, and adore Thee as our Covenant God. the 
God of our now sainted President, and the Sovereign among 
earth's rulers. There is forgiveness with Thee, and we come 
with penitenl hearts in the name that is above every name 
We thank God for the life of 1 1 is servant around whose remains 
the Nation's host gathers in sorrow, for his patriotism and 
purity, for his courage and patience, for his faith and piety, - 
the faith that was first in his now heart stricken mother. The 
Lord deal very tenderly with her and preserve her unto ever- 
lasting life. God be praised for the blending of hearts al the 
mercy seal asking the life of our President Father, not as we 
will, but as Thou wilt. Thy wisdom and love are infinite and 
unerring. Sanctify this faith trial to the Nation to the glory of 
Thy name. Thou compassionate Saviour, wecommendto Thee' 
very tenderly her whose faith and courage made Thy servant 
strong in his days of weakness. We thank Thee for the gather- 
ing of helpful sympathy around her in this her darkest hour. 
Thou wilt keep and bless her and the fatherless ones intrusted 
to her training. Oh ! that they may walk in the faith of their 
father and of their mother and of their grandmother. Keep 
them all from accident upon their journey, bearing this sacred 
dust to its last resting place. Help us to look beyond, to tin' 
home of the soul, where the child shall find its mother and the 
mother the child, and where they die no more. God be praised 
for the institutions of freedom and religion, the rich heritage 
of our fathers, which survive the death of rulers and of people. 
Make us worthy of Thee. Give us the wisdom and courage 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 23 



needed to protect and perpetuate, thus making us more and 
more a pattern among the nations. Endow with wisdom and 
grace Thy servant upon whom the great responsibilities of ad- 
ministration have so suddenly come. Bless his Cabinet, com- 
ing from their anxious and loving ministries of sorrow in the 
chamber of suffering and death. Oh, that all our rulers may 
ever rule in Thy fear, and that our land may be noted for 
righteousness and peace — the spirit of justice and equity ani- 
mating those who make and execute the law, that all the people 
may enjoy peace and prosperity. Make us worthy subjects of 
the coming kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to 
whom with Thee, oh, Father, with the ever blessed Spirit be 
dominion and power and glory, world without end. Amen. 

The body of the late President was taken from Washington 
to Cleveland, Ohio, where the final funeral service was held. 



FUNERAL SERVICES 



■ ? avinoD, lvioumou 




id ram 



Cleveland, Ohio, September 26, 1881, 



Funeral Services at Cleveland : 

Dr. J. P. Eobinson, president of ceremonies, announced that 
the exercises would be opened with singing Beethoven's Fun- 
eral Hymn, by the Cleveland Vocal Society. 

THE HYMN. 

Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, 
Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb, 

The Saviour has passed its portals before thee, 

And the lamp of his love is thy light through the gloom. 

Thou art gone to the grave, we no longer behold thee, 
Nor tread the rough paths of the world by thy side! 

But the wide arms of mercy are spread t<> enfold thee, 
And sinners may hope, since the Sinless hath died. 

Thou art gone to the grave, and its mansions forsaking, 
Perchance thy weak spirit in doubt lingered long; 

But the sunshine of heaven beamed bright on thy waking, 
And the sound thou didst hear was the Seraphim's song. 

Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, 
Since God was thy ransom, thy guardian, thy guide; 

He gave thee, He took thee, and He will restore thee; 
And death hath no sting since the Saviour hath died. 



The following Scripture Selections were then read by 
Bishop Bedell, of the Episcopal diocese of Ohio : 

"Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 
He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also 
as a shadow and continueth not. Lord, thou hast been our 
dwelling place in all generations; before the mountains were 



28 IN MEMORIAM. 



brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world. 
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou 
turnedst man to destruction and sayest, return ye children of 
men; for a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday 
when it has passed, and as a watch in the night But now is 
Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them 
that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also 
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so 
in Christ shall all be made alive: but every man in his own 
order; Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at 
His coming. Thencometh the end when He shall have delivered 
up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have 
put down all rule, and all authority and power, for He must reign 
till He hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy 
that shall be destroyed is death. Butsomemen will say : 'How 
are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?' 
Thou fool; that which thou sowest is not -piickened excepl ii 
die. and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that 
shall be, but bare grain ; it may chance of wheat, or some other 
grain, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to 
every seed His own body. There are also celestial bodies and 
bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the 
glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the 
sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the 
stars. For as one star differeth from another star in glory, so 
also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, 
it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised 
in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is 
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. As we have 
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of 
the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood 
can not inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 29 



inherit incorruption. Behold I show } t ou a mystery. We 
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment : 
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump ; for the trumpet 
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we 
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup- 
tion and this mortal must put on immortality ; so when this 
corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall 
have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the say- 
ing that is written : Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, 
where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting 
of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks 
be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the 
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : even so, saith the 
Spirit, that they rest from their labors." 



Prayer by Rev. Ross C. Houghton: 

O God, our Father,we bow before Thee with the weight of a 
o-reat sorrow upon our hearts. Our beloved President is dead, 
and all our hopes which depended on his wisdom and his integ- 
rity for their fulfillment are blighted. Just why Thou hast suf- 
fered this sore trial to come upon us, we cannot tell ; for as 
Thou hast not informed us of the secrets of Thy government, 
Thy thoughts are not our thoughts, Thy ways are not our ways. 
We bow in humble submission to Thy will, and we pray for 
divine help that we may not, for one moment even, doubt Thy 
wisdom or love. May the dark clouds that hang over us burst 
in blessings on our heads. O God, we acknowledge our sins 
and implore Thy mercy ; we rest in Thy love, and we trust Thee 



30 



IN MEMORIAM. 



to do for us all that is wisest and all that is best We pray, O 
God, that this great disappointment and this great grief ma)- be 
for the Nation's good and Thine own everlasting glory. We 
rejoice in the light from Thy thr >ne, which already begins to dis- 
pel our darkness, and we believe that although the earnest 
prayer of this nation for the recovery of our President has not 
been granted, still Thou might not fail in Thine infinite mercy 
and in Thine infinite love, through his death, to bring to us 
blessings more available. < ) < rod, we thank Thee for the noble, 
grand character of our departed President, which stood out so 
prominent before the Nation and before the world, and we pray 
that the righteousness which he 1< ived and which he exemplified 
may prevail in all the land. Amid all changes Thou only art 
the abiding one. The world and the things of the world are 
passing away, but in the | i of Thy love we are sale and. 

secure. Hide us there, Hod, till all earth's calamities be over 
and past. Regard in mercy, we pray thee, the aged mother, 
the devoted wife and orphan children of our departed ruler, 
as their hearts are overwhelmed. O compassionate Saviour, 
draw them to Thyself. May they rest upon Thy bosom. May 
they find peace and hope and joy in the fulfillment of Thy pre- 
cious promises. May the mantle of the noble father fall upon 
those worthy sons and may every member of this stricken 
family be able to say, through the inspiration of love and sub- 
mission, 'Father, Thy will, not mine, be done!' Grant, O 
God, that this calamity, this great affliction, may draw this 
family and this suffering nation to a nearer relationship and a 
more loving fellowship with Thee; and amid the mysteries of 
seemingly conflicting dispensations grant that we may look for- 
ward by faith to the day when we shall hear Thy voice saw 
'said I not unto them, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst 
see and believe ?' Let also Thy blessings, rich and full, rest 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 31 



upon Thy servant who has been called upon to bear the grave 
responsibilities of Chief Magistrate of the Nation, so suddenly 
and unexpectedly. Bless his Cabinet. Bless all who are 
associated with him in the affairs of this Government. May 
they be men after Thine own heart. May we be, and continue 
to be, despite our calamities, a prosperous and happy people. 
Prepare us with Thy divine help and divine blessing for the fur- 
ther duties of this solemn hour, and grant to us when we lay 
aside all that is mortal and all that remains of our beloved 
brother in the silent grave, it may be with the blessed hope of 
the resurrection from the dead where we shall be forever with 
the Lord. Guide us by Thy counsel ; afterwards receive us to 
Thine excellent glory. We ask it through Christ the Lord. 
Amen. 

The Vocal Society then sang, "To Thee, Lord, I 
yield my spirit." 

Address of Rev. Isaac Errett, D. D. : 

" And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, 
have me away for I am sore wonnded. His servants therefore took him out 
of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they 
brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried in one of the sepul- 
chers of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah, and 
Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all singing men and all singing 
women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day and made them 
ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Now, 
the rest of the acts of Josiah and his goodness, according to that which was 
written in the law of the Lord, and his deeds first and last behold, they are 
written in the book of Kings, of Israel, and of Judah. For behold the Lord of 
hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and staff, the 
whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water, the mighty man and man 
of war, and prophet, and the prudent and ancient, the captain of fifty, an 



32 IX MEMORIAL. 



honorable man and counselor and cunning artificer an eloquent orator. 
The voice said ' cry,' and he said ' what shall I cry?' All flesh i- grass and 
all goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. Grass withereth, the 
flower Eadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the 
people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of 
our God shall stand forever." 

This is a timeof mourning that has no parallel in the history 
of the world. Death is constantly occurring; and every day 
and every hour, and almosl every moment some life expires, 
and somewhere there are broken hearts and desolate homes, but 
we have Learned to accept the unavoidable and we pause for a 
moment and drop a tear, and away we go again to excitement 
and the ambitionsof life and forget it all. Sometimes a life is 
called for that plunges tin' community in mourning, and some- 
times whole nations mourn the loss of a good king or a wise 
statesman, or an eminent sage, or a great philosopher, or a phil- 
anthropist, or :i martyr who has laid his life upon the altar of 
truth and won for himself envious immortality among the sons 
of men; but there was never mourning in all the world like 
unto this m< aiming for, I am t< »ld that not less than 300,000,000 
of the human race share in the sadness, lamentations, sorrow 
and mourning that belong to this occasion here to-day. It is 
the chill shadow of a fearful calamity that has extended itself 
into every home in all this land and into every heart, and that 
has projected itself over the vast seas and oceans into distant 
landsand awakened most sincere and the profoundest sympathy 
with us in the hearts of the good people of nations and among 
all people. This is doubtless attributable in part to the won- 
drous triumph of science and art within the present century by 
means of which time and space have been so far conquered that 
nations once far distant and necessarily alienated from each other 
are brought into close communication. Various ties of commerce 
and social aud religious interests being then in contact of fellow- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 33 



ship that could not have been known in former times. It is like- 
wise unquestionably partly due to the fact that this nation of ours, 
which has grown to such wondrous might and power before the 
whole earth, and which is in fact the hope of the world in all 
that relates to the highest civilization, that sympathy with this 
nation and respect for this great power leads to these offerings 
of condolence and expressions of sympathy and grief from vari- 
ous nations of the earth, and because they have learned to re- 
spect this nation and recognize that the Nation is stricken by a 
blow that has taken away our President from us, and yet this 
will by no means account for this marvelous and world wide 
sympathy. Yet it cannot be attributed to mere intellectual 
greatness for there have been and are other great men, and ac- 
knowledging all that the most enthuasistic hearts could claim for 
our beloved leader, it is but fair to say that there have been 
more eminent educators, greater soldiers, more skillful, exper- 
ienced and powerful legislators and leaders of mighty parties 
and political forces. There is no department in which he has 
won eminence where the world may not point toothers who at- 
tained higher and more intellectual greatness. It may not be 
considered more righteously here than in many other cases, yet 
perhaps it is rare in the history of men and nations that any 
one man has combined so much of excellence in all those vari- 
ous departments, and who as educator, lawyer, legislator, soldier, 
party chieftain and ruler, has done so well — so thoroughly well 
— in all departments and brought out such successful results as 
to inspire confidence, and command the respect and approval in 
everv path of life in which he walked, and in every depart- 
ment of public activity which he occupied. Yet I think when 
we come to a proper estimate of his character and seek after the 
secret of this world-wide sympathy and affection, we shall find 
it rather in the richness and the integrity of his moral nature, in 



34 IN MEMORIAM. 



that sincerety, in that transparent honesty, in that truthful- 
ness thai lay the basis for everything of greatness to which 
we do honor to-day. The speaker related an incident of 
Garfield's, when a mere lad, going to a minister in Cuyahoga 
county, and pledging himself to follow the teachings of Christ. 
The pare honesty, integrity and fearless spirit to enquire and 
thai brave surrender of all charms of sin to convictions of duty 
and right, went with him from boyhood throughout his life, and 
crowned him with honors so cheerfully awarded to him from all 

hearts over this vast land. He passed all conditions of viii is 

life between the log cabin in Cuyahoga and the White [louse, 
and in that wonderfully and varied experience, still moving from 
higher to higher, he touched every heart in all this land at s< ime 
point or other and became representative of all hearts and lives, 
not only as teacher, but also as interpreter of all the virtues, 
for he knew their wants and condition, and established 
mate ties of brotherhood with every man with whom he cam'' 
in contact James A. Garfield went through his whole public 
life without surrendering for a single moment his Christian in- 
tegrity, his moral integrity, or his love for the spiritual. I 
ing into exciting conflicts of political life, with a nature capable 
as any of feeling the force of every temptation, with temp- 
tations to unholy ambition, with an unlawful prize within his 
reach, with every inducement to surrender all his religious 
faith and be known merely as a successful man of the world — 
from first to last he manfully adhered to his religious con- 
victions, and found more praise and gathered in his death all 
the pure inspirations of hope of everlasting life. I am very 
well aware of the feeling among political men, justly shared in 
all over the land, by those who engage in political life, that a 
man can not afford to be a politician and a Christian ; that he 
must necessarily forego his obligations to God, and be absorbed 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 35 



in different measures of policy necessary to enable him to achieve 
desired results. Now, my friends, I call your attention to this 
grand life as teaching a lesson altogether invaluable. I want 
you to look at that man. I want you to think of him when in 
early manhood he was so openly committed to Christ and the 
principles of the Christian religion, that he was frequently found 
among people who allow large liberty occupying the pulpit ; 
and you are within a few miles of the spot where great congre- 
gations gathered when he was yet almost a boy, just emerging 
into manhood, week after week, hung upon words that fell from 
his lips, with admiration, wonder and enthusiasm. It was when 
he was known to be occupying this position that they invited him 
to become a candidate for the Ohio State Senate. It was with 
full knowledge of all that belonged to him in his Christian faith, 
and his efforts to live a Christian life that this was tendered 
him, and without resort to any dishonorable means, he was elect- 
ed and served his State and began his legislative career. When 
the country called to arms, when the union was in danger, and 
his great heart leaped with enthusiasm and was filled with 
the holiest desire and ambition to render some service to his 
country, it required no surrender of dignity or nobleness of his 
Christian life to secure to him honors that fell upon him so thick 
and fast, and successes that followed each other so rapidly as to 
make him the wonder of the world. Though he entered upon that 
course wholly unacquainted with military life and could only 
win his way by honesty of purpose and diligence and faithful- 
ness with which he seized upon every opportunity to accomplish, 
the work before him, follow him from that until called from 
service in the field. The people of his district sent him to con- 
gress, their hearts gathered about him without an effort on his 
part, and they kept him there as long as he would stay, and 
they would have kept him there yet if he had said so. There 



30 IN MEMORIAM. 



were other bright and strong and good names, men who were 
entitled to recognition and reward and altogether worthy in every 
wayto hear the senatorial honors. Yet there was such currents 
of admiration and sympathy and trust and love coming in and 
centering from all parts of the state thai the action of the legis- 
lature at Columbus was but an echo of the popular voice. And 
then, again, when he went to Chicago to serve the interests of 
another — when as I know his own ambition was fully satisfied 
and he had received that on which his heart was set, and looked 
with more than gladness tothepath in life for which he thought 
his entire education and culture had prepared bim— when 
wearied out with every effort to command a majority for any 
candidate, the hearts of that greal convention turned on every 
side to Garfield. In spite of himself and against every fe< ling, 
wish and prayer of his own heart, this honor was crowded 
upon him, and the nation responded with holy enthusiasm from 
one end of the land to the other. In the same honorable way 
he was elected to the chief magistracy under circumstances 
which, however the bitterness of party conflict, caused all hearts 
of all parties not only to acquiesce but to feel proud in the con- 
sciousness that we had a chief magistrate of whom they need 
not be ashamed before the world and unto whom they could 
safely confide the destinies of this mighty Nation. Now, gen- 
tlemen, let me say to you all, those of you occupying great 
places of trust, who are here to-day, ami to the mass of those 
who are called upon to discharge the responsibilities of citizen- 
ship year by year, the most invaluable lesson that we learn 
from the life of our beloved departed president is that not only 
is it compatible with success but it is the surest means of suc- 
cess to consecrate heart and life to that which is true and right, 
and above all question of mere policy, wedding soul to truth 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 37 



and right and the God of truth and righteousness in holy wed- 
lock never to be dissolved. 

Dr. Errett made an affecting allusion to the late President's 
mother, his home life, ministrations of his devoted wife in his 
sufferings, and fatherless children whom he committed to the 
care of God. Concluding, the speaker said : 

I have discharged now the solemn covenant and trust reposed 
in me many years ago in harmony with a friendship which 
has never known a cloud, a confidence that has never trem- 
bled, and a love that has never changed. Farewell, my friend 
and brother. Thou hast fought the good fight ; thou hast fin- 
ished thy course ; thou hast kept thy faith. Henceforth there 
is laid up for thee a crown of righteousness, which a righteous 
judge will give thee in that day, and not unto thee only but un- 
to them also who loved his appearing. 

Rev. Jabez Hall read Garfield's favorite hymn, which 
was beautifully sung by the Vocal Society. It is as 
follows : 

" Ho, reapers of life's harvest 

Why stand with rusted blade 
Until the night draws round thee 

And the day begins to fade? 
Why stand ye idle waiting 

For reapers more to come? 
The golden morn is passing, 

Why sit ye idle, dumb? 

Thrust in your sharpened sickle 
And gather in the grain. 



3S IN MEMORIAM. 



The night is Easl approaching 
And soon will come again 

The Master calls for reapers, 
And shall he call in vain? 

Shall sheaves lie there ungathered 
And w aste upon i he plain ? 

Mounl up i he hights of wisdom 

And crush each error low . 
Keep back no words of knowledge 

Thai human heart should know. 
Be faithful to thy mission. 

In service of thy Lcrd, 
And i hen a golden chaplel 

shall be i hy jusl reward." 



Prayer by Dr. Charles S. Pomeroy : 

Eternal and ever blessed God, Thou alonearl great Clouds 
and darkness are roundabout Righteousness and judgmenl 
are the habitation of Thy throne. The eyes of all the world 
are upon us to-day, as solemnly we prepare to lay away the 
remains of our beloved chieftain in the tomb. The hearts of 
fifty million people are throbbing with our hearts as we 
pass through these solemn obsequies, and O God. more im- 
pressive to us than all is the fact, that, though we are poor and 
needy the Great God thinketh upon us. We thank Thee, 
gracious Father, that we sorrow not to-day as those who are 
without hope. For we know that since Jesus died and rose 
again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
him. We thank Thee, Father, for the very existence of such a 
man as him we mourn today. We thank Thee that Thou didst 
give him to our love, and we do bless Thee, above all, that thou 
hast now bestowed upon him the greatest promotion of his ad- 



JAMES A. GAKF1ELD. 39 



vancing life, even to a seat at Thy right hand in the glory of 
Thy heavenly throne. Abide with us, gracious God. Let Thy 
gracious blessing rest upon those whose sorrow must be so much 
more intimate and intense than ours ; upon this mother and 
this widow and these fatherless children, whom we commit in all 
confidence to Thy divine and gracious care. God ! God ! 
be our shield. We thank Thee for what Thou hast done for 
the people through these hours of darkness that have come out 
in light through Thy blessing, in the hope we entertain for him 
and ourselves. We bless Thee that Thou hast crushed our skep- 
ticism under the power of this sorrow, that Thou hast led the 
people to press toward the throne of heavenly grace in suppli- 
cation, and that Thou art ready still further to bless us, and a 
nation whose God is the Lord. Now, go with us, our Father. 
Abide with us ever as a people and at last take us all, as this 
great flood of humanity pours over the brink of death into the 
gulf of eternity : grant that we may, like him for whom we 
grieve to-day, be received into the everlasting habitation to be 
forever with Thee, Lord, and all praise shall be Thine, through 
Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen. 

And now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of 
God our Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be and 
abide with you all. Amen. 



Music by the Marine Band. " Nearer my God to 
Thee. " 



nr 



i fie »Yices at trie rave, 



At the Grave : 

Dr. J. P. Eobinson, as president of the day, opened the ex- 
ercises by introducing Rev. J. H. Jones, Chaplain of the Forty- 
second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which General Gar- 
field commanded. Mr. Jones said: 

" Our illustrious friend has completed his journey, a journey 
we must all soon make, and that in the near future. Yet when 
I see the grand surroundings of this occasion I am led to in- 
quire was this man the son of an emperor or of a king, for in 
the history of this great country there has been nothing like 
this seen by the people, and perhaps in no other country. He 
was not. Only a few miles from where we stand, less than fifty 
years ago, he was born in the primeval forests of this State, and 
all he asks of you now is a peaceful grave in the bosom of the land 
that gave him birth. I cannot speak to you of his wonderful life 
and works. Time forbids, and history will take care of that, and 
your children's children will read of this with emotion when we 
have passed away from this earth. But let me say that when I 
was permitted with these honorable men to go to Pittsburg as 
one of a committee to receive his mortal remains, I saw from 
that city to Cleveland hundreds and thousands of people, many 
of them in tears. Then I asked myself the meaning of this, for 
I saw the workingmen come out of the rolling mills with dust 
and smoke all over their faces, their heads uncovered and tears 
rolling down their brawny cheeks, and with bated breath I 
asked, what is the meaning of all this? He was a workingman 
himself, for he had been a worker from his birth almost. He 



44 IN MEMORIAM. 



had foughl his way through life at every step, and the working- 
man he took by the hand. There were sympathy and brother- 
hood between them. In the small cottages as well as in the 
splendid mansions there are drapings on the shutters, and it 
may have been the only veil a poor woman had, and with tears 
in her eyes she saw us pass. 1 asked why: what interest has this 
poor woman in this man 7 She had read that he was horn in a 
cabin, and that when he gol old enough to work" in the beech 
woods he helped to support his widowed mother. Then I saw 
the processions and the colleges pouring out; the learned pro. 
fessions and civic societies and the military, all concentrated 
here. And he has touched them all in his passage through 
life. But when a man dies his work usually follows him. 
When we sent General Garfield to the Capitol at Washington 
he weighed 210 pounds. lie had a soul that loved his race, a 
splendid intellect that almost bent the lai m to bear it. 

You bring him back to us a mere handful of si >me eighty pounds, 
mostlv of bones in that casket Now [ask, why is this? I 
do not stop to talk aboul the man that did the deed. " Ven- 
geance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay." lb- sees the ter- 
rors of a scaffold before him probably, am! the eternal disgrace 
which falls to the murderer and assassin, and he is going down 
to the judgment of God amid the frowns of the world. But 
where is James A. Garfield, whom we lent to you seven months 
ago? Many of you were there at the time of his inauguration 
and witnessed the grand pageanl which passed in front of the 
Capitol, and the grandest that was ever had in the nation was 
held on that occasion. And now comes this unwelcome but 
splendid exhibition. Where is he ? Here is all that is left of 
him, the grand, bright and brilliant man. Now that soul that 
loved, that mind that thought and impressed itself upon the 
world, must come back, for if thoughts live, will that precious 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 45 



mind die ? In reason he speaks and in example lives. We 
shall get him back. In conversation with one nearest and 
dearest to him she said when she thought of his relations as a 
husband, a son and a statesman, having reached the highest 
pinnacle to which man can be elevated by the free suffrage of 
our 50,000,000 of people, there was no promotion left for her be- 
loved but for God to call him higher. He has received that 
promotion. He believed in the immortality not only of the 
soul but of the bod\ r , and that the grave will give up the dead. 
He must live — and, my friends, that was the hope that sustained 
him. It was with him in the war and the enemy never saw 
his back. They never looked upon his back ; he was fortunate 
in every contest in being on the victorious side. But the 
grandest fight he ever made was in the last eighty days of his 
existence, fought not because he himself personally expected to 
live, but the doctors told him to hope. He loved his wife and 
children and he hoped. "I am not afraid to die, but I will try" 
said he, "to live." And then he was not conquered except by 
simple exhaustion. It seems to me that no good man by the 
name of Abraham can be President of the United States and 
can be long absent from Abraham's bosom, for both Abrahams 
or Abrams have been called early to the paradise of God, and 
their spirits look down upon us to day. Garfield is in the 
society of Washington and Lincoln and the immortal hosts of 
patriots that fought for their country. You brethren here of 
the South, I greet you to-day, and you brethren of the North, 
East and West, come, let us lay all our bitterness in the coffin 
of the dear man. Let him carry it with him to the grave in 
silence. Till the angels disturb the slumbers of the dead, let 
us love each other more and our country better. May God 
bless you and the dear family, and as they constitute a great 
family on earth, I hope they will constitute a great family in 



46 IN MEMORIAM. 



the Kingdom of God, where I hope to meel you all in the end. 
Amen. 



Latin Ode from Horace, sung by the United German 
Singing Society : 

Integer vita scelerisque ]>ui tis 
Non egel Mauris jaculis, aeque arcu, 
Nee venenatis gravida sagittis, 
Fusee, pbaretra : 

Sive per Syrtes iter testuosas, 
Si\ e facturus per inhospitalem 
Caucasum, ve] quae loca fabulosus 
Lainbil Bydaspes. 

Namque me silva lupus in Sabina, 
Dum meam canto Lalagen, el ultra 
Terminum euris vagor expeditis, 
Fugit inermem : 

Quali' portentun que militaris 

Daunias latis alit a&sculetis, 
Nee Jubae tell us generat, leonum 
Arida nutrix. 

Pour me, pigris ubi nulla campis 
Arbor aestiva recreatur aura, 
Quod latus mundi nebula 1 mal usque 
Juppiter urgel ; 

Pone sub eurru nimium propinqui 
Solis, in terra riomibus negata: 
Dnlce ridenteni Lalagen amabo, 
Dulee loquentem. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 47 



[Translated by Lord Lytto.w] 

He whose life hath no flaw, pure from guile, need not borrow 
Or the bow or the darts of the Moor, my Fuscus! 
He relies for defence on no quiver that teems with 
Poison-steept arrows. 

Though his path be along sultry African Syrtes, 
Or Caucasian ravines where no guest finds a shelter, 
Or the banks which Hydaspes, the stream weird with fable, 
Licks languid-flowing. 

For as lately I strayed beyond pathways accustomed, 
And with heart free from care was of Lalage singing, 
A wolf in the thick of the deep Sabine forest 
Met, and straight fled me, 

All unarmed though I was; yet so deadly a monster 
Warlike Daunia ne'er bred in her wide acorned forests, 
Nor the thirst-raging nurse of the lion — swart Julia's 
African sand-realm. 

Place me lone in the sterile wastes, where not a leaflet 
Ever burst into bloom in the breezes of summer; 
Sunless side of the world, which the grim air oppresses, 
Mist-clad and ice bound; 

Place me lone where the earth is denied to man's dwelling. 
All so near to its breast glows the car of the day-god ; 
And I still should love Lalage — her the sweet-smiling, 
Her the sweet-talking. 



Mr. Robinson gave out the late President's favorite 
Hymn : " Ho, reapers of life's harvest !" which the 
German Vocal Societies of Cleveland, sang. 



48 IX MEMORIAL. 



President Hinsdale's Benediction : 

The exercises closed with the benediction by President Hins- 
dale, of Hiram College, who said : 

God, the sad experience of this day teaches as the truth 

of what Thou hast told us in Thy Word The -rave is the last 
of this world and the end of life— earth to earth, dust to dust, 
ashes to ashes. But we love the doctrine of the immortality 
of the soul and the power of the endless life. Therefore, 
God, our Father, we look to thee now for thy greatest blessing. 
We pray that the fellowship and the salvation of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and the inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit, the Comforter, may be with all who have been in to- 
day's great assembly. Amen. 



71 

.J1V1 



,^.. 



BY THE SEA. 

The long night deepen d and the people slept ; 

No sound disturbed the village by the sea, 
For which so long had yearned the weary eyes 

Of him the nation loved. Far out from shore 
The sky, full stud with brightest stars, looked down 

In brilliant splendor ; while the trackless waste, 
Bearing upon its bosom snow-white sails, 

Dashed high its mighty strength, in sullen roar, 
That echoed in the distance ; seemed the wail 

Of soul which, long in bondage, sought to burst 
From cruel prison bars. But on the path 

Leading from whitened beach, no star shone down, 
And o'er the cottage where the chieftain lay 

The dark clouds gathered, drooping murk and low, 
As if in sorrow for a dastard's blow : 

They sought to typify a people's shame — 
Perchance, to shield from mortal gaze all ken 

Of Death's dread angel, who, with sickle keen, 
In patience waited long. 

The gray dawn broke, 

And lo ! Columbia's dearest son was not, 
For when none watched, the angel Israfil 

The dwelling entered, and swift breathed on him, 
And lulled him to forgetfulness, and bore 

Him out, from depths of life's troubled sea 
To shores beyond, where lies the land unknown, 

Where nevermore is sorrow, toil or pain. 



52 EN MEMORIAM. 



Where all the sad, strange mysteries of life 
Areclear and plain. 

Dead ! aye, as men name death. 
For pale and cold and still he lay, asleep, 
Close to the ech sea. 

O true, brave hearl ! tender, helpful hands! 

O tuneful voice! now mute foreverrm 
Christ said : "Than this, hath no man greater love, 

And he who yieldeth for his friend his lit 
Shall find sweet rest. 

T ley bore him to his home, 
'Mid woful tears of women, grief of men. 
And there they left him, and the nighl came down 
And drew a gentle shadow over all. E. G. 

Troij Times. 



(i.MJFIELI). 



A stricken nation mourns to-day 

[ts grandly-fallen chief ; 
The old, the young, the grave and gay 

Are bowed alike in grief: 
A solemn hush is in the air, 

And on the sober earth, 
As if all things were joined in prayer- 

And lost were joy and mirth. 

The strauge decorum of the street — 
The sound of hoof and wheel — 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 53 



Where earnest men in business meet 

To chaffer of their deal, 
Have all the same sad tale to tell 

Of sorrow's overflow — 
Of how the martyred hero fell — 

Of how we feel the blow. 

Oh, now, we know how weak we are ; 

God help us in this hour ! 
As tender blade and flaming star 

Keveal Thy love and power ; 
Give us to see, in that pure light 

Thou sheddest from above, 
How this dread lesson of Thy might 

A lesson is of love. 

And not in vain will death have cast 

Its shadow o'er the land ; 
If future years redeem the past 

And we united stand; 
In firm alliance each with each 

To keep the sacred trust 
Our fathers left, by deed and speech, 

Above their hallowed dust, 

'Tis well ye gather round his bier 

With mourning speech and song — 
Not soon again ye'll find his peer 

In any earthly throng; 
And grander faith no man hath shown- 

If we but prove it just — 
Than this he spake with dying groan ; 

'■'The people are my trust" 



54 IN MEMORIAM. 



Write out these words on plates of gold, 

And stamp them on each heart : 
No briefer speech hath ever told 

The sum of freedom's chart. 
The crafl of kings may prop their fall 

When sceptered crowns grow dim, 
But freedom shall outlive them all 

If we arc true to him. 

Oh, could we read the lengthening scroll 

Of earth's immortal men, 
In that high court of last control 

Where angel scribes make up the roll 
With (rod's unerring pen, 

We there should see, in one bright place, 
The true Shekinah flame, 

And in its midsl the blazoned trace 
Of GARFIELD'S brighter name. 

E. C. POMEROY 



GARFIELD. 



Forelooking, reasoning soul. 

Holding self in wise control, 
Led by Destiny into a mighty light. 

Wisely guided up the precipitous height. 

Broad-minded — no common man. 

Eecord closely — justly scan. 
The average life cannot compare 

With what the critic finds written there. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 55 



Gifted — this genius, grand and rare, 

Beyond the reach of public care, 
Beyond the lust of power and gain, 

Beyond the touch of sin and pain. 

Beyond the reach of party strife, 

Sad'ning all political life ; 
Beyond the reach of every man 

Who seeks the fires of hate to fan. 

No partisan cry the solemn silence breaks, 
While a sorrowing people lovingly takes, 

The priceless dust to its tortured heart, 
And tenderly performs its woeful part. 

Around his bier a nation stands 

And reaches forth its kindly hands 
To those who have in the life that is done, 

Lost a husband, a father and a son. 

What tho' from the trunk a branch is torn, 

Of power and beauty 'tis not shorn, 
Ring out this anthem — boldly ring — 

"The Nation lives and God is King." 

Edwin Stoddard. 



GARFIELD. 



Along the wires, oh valiant Chief, 
From princely rulers o'er the sea, 

Through weary days of pain, have come 
Kind messages to thee. 



56 IN MEMORIAL. 



While at thy gate the Nation stood 

In tearful silence as a prayer, 
From its great heart went up to God, 

That Hf thy life would spare. 

But in the solemn midnight hour, 
Pasl gate and guard, unseen, unfe t, 

A messenger angelic came 
And at thy bedside knelt — 

The kind.. •>! friend that yel had brought 

A tender word or gift to thee, 
For on thy brow he placed a crown 

Of immortality. 

The waves thai lulled thy soul to i 

As soft thej beal upon the shore, 
For thee, oh martyred Chief, will sing, 

A requiem evermore. 

Uiica Sunday Tribum . 



GARFIELD LIVES AGAIN. 

Adown the western steeps of time, 
The Chieftain's sun of life has set ; 

Y.'i. on the sky, in hues sublime — 

Where earthly hopes and heaven have met- 

In characters of living flame 

Is written — '"Garfield lives again !" 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 57 



Yes, lives where those of noble fame 

Enjoy release from death and pain, 
In mansions new — forevermore ; 

Where veterans' of the Army Grand — 
Encamped upon the other shore, 

In number, as the grains of sand 
Which crowd the hour-glass of years — 

Proclaim his royal welcome home. 
Now let the nation dry its tears — 

His record rests within God's Tome. 

John C. Ball. Troy Times.. 



THE END. 



A wasp flew out upon our fairest son 

And stung him to the quick with poisoned shaft, 

The while he chatted carelessly and laughed, 

And knew not of the fateful mischief done. 

And so this life, amid our love begun, 

Envenomed by the insect's hellish craft, 

Was drunk by Death in one long feverish draught, 

And he was lost — our precious, priceless one ! 

Oh, mystery of blind, remorseless fate ! 

Oh, cruel end of a most causeless hate ! 

That life so mean should murder life so great ! 

What is there left to us who think and feel, 

Who have no remedy, and no appeal, 

But damn the wasp and crush him under heel? 

J. G. Holland. 



58 IN MEMORIAM. 



LYING IN STATE. 



Thy will be done! We cannol lift the veil 
That shrouds Thy wisdom, Lord, from mortal eyes. 
Thou art unfathomable, and thy ways 
Past finding out. 

In grief we humbly bow 
As tear-dimmed eve-; behold our stricken Chief 
Laid low by death. In vain we try to grasp 
The lesson Thou wouldst teach a sorrowing world : 
The arm that oft has stayed the approaching tide 
Of party fend and strife no longer holds 
The helm; the mind, replete with golden thought, 
Forever striving after clearer truth 
And light, is now al rest ; the tender heart, 
Aglow with love, and aspirations grand, 
Is cold and still. Around their leader's bier 
A mourning nation weeps; whilst faith and doubt 
And love and fear presume, with contrast strange, 
To solve the mystery of Tin providence. 
But Thou knowest best, and once, when face to face 
We see no longer darkly through the glass, 
We, too, shall know. Death's call brooks no delay, 
It comes to all. And as the parents' hearts 
Are joined more firmly o'er a loved one's grave, 
So, o'er our Chief today, now eold in death, 
A Nation's union is more strongly knit. 
From East and West, from North and South, the hearts 
Of millions beat as one with poignant grief, 
And faction's angry voice is hushed once more. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 59 



We leave in faith and hope our doubts, our fears, 

Our country's future destiny, our all 

With Thee, our Father, and our country's God. 

F. W. Reeder. 



THE SAD MINUTE GUN. 

Ah, why do we hear that sad detonation 

That strikes on the ear with a sorrowful sound, 
And makes the heart beat with quick palpitation, 

As the echoes are borne o'er the waters around 'r 
It makes the hot tears down our pallid cheeks run, 

While clouds of deep anguish gloom over the day, 
And the sound that we hear is the sad minute gun, 

While our loved one is borne in sorrow away. 

Like chill winter winds which sweep o'er the ocean, 

And wreck the brave bark in tempestuous gale, 
It swells every heart with inward commotion 

As it sounds through the land a sorrowful wail. 
But it tells of a race most gloriously run, 

As his soul is borne up to perpetual day, 
And this is announced by that sad minute gun, 

As to the dark tomb they bear Garfield away. 

Sad is the hour in death's contemplation, 

As draped in deep mourning each mansion is still, 

Chill'd is the soul at that. sad detonation 
Resounding aloud o'er valley and hill ; 



60 IN" MEMORIAM. 



'Tis the wail of the nation for its brave stricken son, 
In the grave to be lain from the light of the day ; 

And a pang to the heart is that sad minute gun, 
As to the dark tomb they bear Garfield away. 

John Banvard. 



•:•:■ 



IPSA VTRTUTE MAJOR. 

Not when, on Chickamauga's stricken field, 
The reeling ranks about thee fell or fled, 
But thy brave spirit, still un vanquished, 

Dared face the foe alone, untaught to yield 

And made thy single arm thy country's shield ; 
Not when the nation named thee for its head. 
And up earth's stateliesl heights thy footsteps led. 
And lo ! a king of men thou stood'st revealed, 

Wast thou so great as on thy bed of pain, 
Garfield! so much thy country's love and pride 
But greatest art thou mow when on thy bier. 

We drop the bitter ye1 triumphant tear. 

Now thou hast proved indeed that God doth reign, 
In His own Kingdom, throned by Lincoln's side. 

D. A. Casseelt 



FLOWERS OX A GRAVE. 

What sweeter thing to hear, through tears, than this. 
Of one who dies, that looking on him dead, 

*"His arrival at Thomas' headquarters was like the reinforcement of a 
corps."— [Life of James A. Garfield, A. S. Barnes & Co., 1881.] 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 61 



All men with tender reverence gazed and said 

What courtesy and gentleness, were his ! 

Our ruder lives, for years to come, will miss 

His sweet serenity which daily shed 

A grace we scarcely felt, so deep inbred 

Of nature was it ! Loyalty which is 

So loyal as his loyalty to friends 

Is rare; such purity rarer still." 

Yes, there is yet one sweeter thing! It ends 

The broken speech with sobs that choke and fill our throats. 

"Alas ! lost friend, we knew not how 
Thou hadst won us to love thee until now." 

Some lives are bright like torches, and their flame 

Casts flickering lights around, and changeful heats ; 

Some lights blaze like the meteor which fleets 

Across the sky ; and some of lofty aim 

Stand out like beacon lights. But never came. 

Or can, a light so satisfying sweet, 

As steady day light, unperturbed, complete, 

And noiseless. 

Human lives we see, the same 
As this ; their equilibrium so just, 
Their movements so serene, so still, small heed 
The world pays to their presence till in need 
It sudden finds itself. The darkness near, 
The precious life returning dust to dust, 
It recollects how noon and life were clear. 

How poor is all that Fame that can be or bring! 
Although a generation feed the pyre. 



62 IN MEMOBIAM. 



How soon dies out the lifeless, loveless fire ! 
" The king is dead !" " Hurrah ! Long live the king !" 
" The poet breathes his last !" " Who next will sing?" 
" The great man falls !" " Who comes to mount still higher?" 

O bitter emptiness of such desire, 

Earth holds but one true good, but one true thing, 

And this is it — to walk in honest ways 

And patient, and with all one's heart belong 

In love unto one's own. No death so strong 

That life like this he ever conquers, slays ; 

The centuries do it no hurt, no wrong; 

They are eternal Resurrection Days ! 

II. II. Independent. 



COLUMBIA SO in {OWING. 

September, G. 

He was borne from the gates of pain 
By those who loved him well ; 
And over the throng strange silence fell, 

For near him were angels twane ; 
Lone leading onward her cloud-robed band 
With her sister Sorrow hand-in-hand. 

On sped the Hying car, 
It had borrowed the lighting's wing. 
Ah, but human hearts were quivering, 

Under each iron bar ! 
Had it needed lives that breath to span 
I trow there had lacked not a single man ! 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



63 



When Love to Sorrow spoke 

As they flew with the flying train, 
; Behold, Sorrow, the people's pain 
bid them to joy awake !" 
But weeping and bending that couch above 
She answered, "My name is also Love." 

September, 19. 

O land bereaved ! might not some harp awake 
One voice to float around thy heart's despair 
And win one moment from its stress of pain ? 
Nay, silent all ! Though lightest winds oft snap 
The trembling strings, in fiercests gale they sleep 
Or yield at best a wild and fitful strain. 

The distant storm which all the forest bends, 

The bolt that rends the far-off stately pine, 

With awed hushed breath we view, and prayer ascends, 

And thoughts word-wrought leave on the page their sign. 

But when so close that human eyes are blind, 
Hands stricken helpless by contending fears ; 
No voice, no speech, no prayer, the soul can find ; 
E'en sympathy can bring no gift but tears. 

J. Oliver Smith. 



GARFIELD. 



Lay him to sleep, whom we have learned to love ; 

Lay him to sleep, whom we have learned to trust. 

No blossom of hope shall spring from out his dust. 
No flower of faith shall bloom his sod above. 



64 IN MEMORIAM. 



Although tlie sod by sorrowful hands be drest, 

Although the dust with tenderesl tears be drenched, 
A feebler light succeeds the new life quenched, 

And weaker hands the strong hand- crossed in rest. 

Our new. our untried leader — when he r< 

Though still old hatred- fed upon old griefs, 
Death or disgrace had stilled the cry «'!' chiefs 

Of old who rallied us against our I- 

A soldier of the camp, we knew him thus: 
No saintly champion, high above his kind. 
To follow with devotion mad and blind- 
He fought and fared, essayed and erred, with U.S. 

And so, half-hearted, went we when 

And, following whither beckoned his bright blade, 
Learned his high will and purpose undismayed; 

And brought him all our faith — and found him dead. 

Is of the sacred pall, thai once of yore 

Draped Lincoln dead, cue mouldering fragment left? 

Spread it above him — Knight whose helm was cleft 
Fair in the light, as his who fell before. 

As his who fell before, his seat we dress 

With pitiful shreds of black, that flow and fail 
Upon the bosom of the breeze, whose wail 

Prays us respect that hallowed emptiness. 

Ay! who less worthy now may take that chair, 
If our first martyr's spirit on one hand 
And this new ghost upon the other stand, 

Saying: Betray- thy country if thou dare ! Puck. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 65 



OUR DEAD PRESIDENT. 

Who has the fitting word, 
When every breast is stirred 

With sorrow far too deep for words to tell ? 
Yet, as amid Death's gloom, 
Friends whisper in the room 

We speak of him who lived and died so well. 

Night reigned beside the sea, 
When morning came to thee, 

Long-waiting heart, so patient and so brave ! 
Light fell upon thy door, 
Pain ceased fore verm ore, 

Back to its Maker fled the life He gave. 

Like messengers in quest, 
They started east and west 

Two tidal waves of sorrow 'round the world. 
Millions of eyes were wet 
Before the tidings met 

Where in the Eastern seas our flags are furled. 

Quickly through throbbing wire, 
Those waves of sorrow dire, 

Awoke across the land the mournful bells ; 
Men roused and could not sleep, 
For, pulsing strong and deep, 

All hearts that knew were ringing funeral knells- 
Wives gazed in husband's eyes, 
And tears would slowly rise 

For her who fought with death so long alone ; 



6Q IN MEMORIAM. 



And children with no task 
Were left themselves to ask, 

Why death this Father took, and not their own. 

On all the shadow falls. 

It hushes college halls. 

It consecrates the cabins of the wesl : 

The freedmen level him well : 
Soldiers his praises tell, 

The rudest boatman is too sad to jest. 

Still, over hills and d< 
The beautiful, sad bells 

Repeal the Nation's sorrow for her son : 
But he doth hear the chime 
Of a more peaceful clime 

Than Mentor's fields or quiet Elberon. 

Like him, the Crucified, 
He, who so calmly died. 

Has made the world the better for his pain : 
Surely we now may know 
Our Leader was laid low 

To lift the Nation to a higher plain. 

We say as once he said — 
Our Hero-ruler dead — 

" The Lord still reigns, the Country is secure ;" 
There's none can fill his place ; 
Eule Thou, O God of grace ! 

And guide us on to days more bright and pure. 

c. h. c. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 67 



THE PRESIDENT'S DEATH-A PRAYER. 

Jehovah, God of grace, 

Before thy pitying face 

Lowly we bend, 

While we with stricken cry 

Adore thy majesty, 

0, hear the wail and sigh 

Of this sad land. 

Thou who in Jesus' day 
Did'st drive disease away 
And answer prayer, 
Beheld our rulers state, 
Faint and emaciate, 
Nor closed death's cruel gate 
His like to spare. 

To those whom he loved best, 
To her who on his breast, 
Silent and chill, 
Drop tears of keen distress, 
Widowed and fatherless, 
Show in grief's loneliness 
Thy mercy still. 

Our Nation's sins towards thee, 
Bowed in humility, 
Sadly we mourn ; 
Forgive them now, we pray, 
" Take all our guilt away, 



68 IX MEMORIAM. 



O may we from this day" 
To thee return. 

Lord, Thou art wise and just, 
Though slain, we still will trust, 
And offerings brii 
In Jesus 1 name we plead ; 
Teach us Thy will to heed, 
And endless praise be paid 
To Christ our king. 

//mi ford Conn i at. 



GARFIELD'S LIFE. 

Garfield is dead a Nation weeps, 
To know his kindly ways no more. 

His work is done ; he sweetly sl< 
Beside the loud resounding shore. 

Ee laid him down in pride of life, 

Patient through weary months of pain, 

Hushed was the noise of party strife, 
No sound but pity's sobbing strain. 

He lays aside each lofty thought, 
Statescraft has faded out of view, 

His weary mind will think of naught 
Save faithful wife and mother true. 

"Oh! for a breath of boyhood's air, 
Oh ! for a glimpse of Mentor's plain, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 69 



Oh ! for a view of Erie fair 

Such sights would make me well again." 

It cannot be ! he longs in vain. 

He dies beside the swelling sea, 
Ohio calls him home again, 

There to remain — and silent be. 

Garfield still lives ; now, dry your eyes ! 

Ye mourning millions ! Hope and trust, 
His soul must from his ashes rise, 

It cannot consort with the dust. 

He lives to form our lives anew, 

To further the Almighty's plan, 
To bring into a nobler view 

The love and brotherhood of man. 

He lives to teach our nobler youth, 
To fit them for the cares of state, 
To give them a deep love for truth, 
And whate'er makes a statesman great. 

To glorify the home, he lives 

To make us love our early days, 
To garner pleasures virtue gives, 

While single-minded in our ways. 

Yes ! let the nation dry its eyes ! 

To-day 'tis dark ; 'tis but a cloud, 
Our God will make the people rise 

Forth from their woe, and shout aloud. 

Theodore W. Dwight. 



70 IX MEMORIAM. 



AFTEB THE BURIAL. 

Fallen with autumn's fallen leaf 

Ere vet his summer's noon was past, 
Our friend, our guide, oar trusted chief, — 
What words can match a woe so vast. 

And whose the chartered claim to speak 
The sacred grief where all have part, 

When sorrow saddens every cheek 
And broods in everv aching heart? 

Yet nature prompts the burning phrase 
That thrills the hushed and shrouded hall, 

The loud lament, the sorrowing praise, ' 
The silenl tear that love lets fall. 

In loftiest verse, in lowliest rhyme, 

Shall strive unblamed the minstrel choir ; 

The singers of the new-born time 

And trembling age with outworn lyre. 

No room for pride no place for blame ; 

We fling our blossoms on the grave 
Pale, scentless, faded — all we claim, 

This only : what we had we gave. 

Ah, could the grief of all who mourn 
Blend in one voice its bitter cry 

The wail to heaven's high arches borne 
Would echo thro' the cavernecl sky. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 7l 



II. 

O happiest land whose peaceful choice 
Fills with a breath its empty throne ! 

God, speaking thro' thy people's voice 
Has made that voice for once his own. 

No angry passion shakes the state 

Whose weary servant seeks for rest, — 

And who could fear that scowling hate 
Would strike at that unguarded breast ? 

He stands ; unconscious of his doom, 
In manly strength, erect, serene — 

Around him summer spreads her bloom, — 
He falls, — what horror clothes the scene ! 

How swift the sudden flash of woe 

Where all was bright as childhood's dream ! 

As if from heaven's ethereal bow 

Had leaped the lightning's arrowy gleam. 

Blot the foul deed from history's page — 

Let not the all-betraying sun 
Blush for the day that stains an age 

When murder's blackest wreath was won. 



in. 

Pale on his couch the sufferer lies, 
The weary battle ground of pain 

Love tends his pillow, science tries 
Her every art, alas ! in vain. 



72 IN MEMORIAM. 



The strife endures how Long ! how long! 

Life, death, seem balanced in the scale, 
While round his bed a viewless throng 

Awaits each morrow's changing tale. 

In realms the desert ocean parts 

What myriads watch with tear-filled eyes, 

His pulse-beats echoing in their hearts, 
His breathings counted with their sighs ' 

Slowly the stores of life are spent, 
Yet hope still battles with despair, — 

Will Heaven nol yield when knees are bent? 
Answer, O Thou that nearest prayer! 

Bu1 silent is the brazen sky, — 

On sweeps the meteor's threatening train, — 
Unswerving Nature's mute reply, 

Bound in her adamantine chain. 

Not ours the verdict to decide 

Whom d.-ath shall claim or skill shall save ; 
The hero's life tho' Heaven denied 

It gave our land a martyr's gi 

Nor count the teaching vainly sent 

How human hearts their griefs may share, — 

The lesson woman's love has lent 

What hope may do, what faith can bear! 

Farewell ! the leaf-strown earth enfolds 
Our stay, our pride, our hopes, ourjears, 

And autumn's golden sun beholds 
A Nation bowed, a world in tears. 

O liver Wendell Holmes. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 73 



PRESIDENT GARFIEED. 

" E venni dal martirio a qnesta pace." 

These words the Poet heard in Paradise, 
Uttered by one who bravely dying here, 
In the true faith was living in that sphere, 
Where the Celestial Cross of sacrifice 

Spread its protecting arms athwart the skies ; 
And, set thereon like jewels crystal clear, 
The souls magnanimous, that new not fear, 
Flashed their effulgence on his dazzled eyes. 

Ah me ! how dark the discipline of pain, 

Were not the suffering followed by the sense 
Of infinite rest and infinite release ! 
This is our consolation ; and again 

A great soul cries to us in our suspense — 

" 1 came from martyrdom unto this peace !" 

Henry W. Loxgfellow. 



JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 

BORN NOV. 19, 1831 ; DIED SEPT. 19, 1881. 

1 do not come to weep above thy pall, 

And mourn the dying out of noble powers; 

The poet's clearer eye should see, in all 

Earth's seeming woe, the seed of Heaven's flowers. 

No power can die that ever wrought for Truth ; 
Thereby a law of Nature it became, 



74 IN MEMORIAM. 



And lives unwithered in its sinewy youth, 
When he who called it forth is but a name. 

Therefore I can not think thee wholly gone; 

The better part of thee is with us still : 
Thy soul its hampering clay aside has thrown, 

And only freer wrestles with the 111. 

* * -:•:• * * * 

Such was he our Martyr Chief, 

Whom late the Nation he had led, 

With ashes on her h< 
Wept with the passion of an angry irrief ; 
Forgive mc, if from present things I turn 
To speak what in my heart will heat and burn, 
And hang my wreath on his world-honored urn. 

Nature, they say, doth dote, 

And can not make a man 
Save on some worn-out plan. 
Repeating ns by rote. 

For him her Old World moulds aside she threw, 
And, choosing sweet clay from the breast 
Of the unexhausted West, 
With stuff untainted shaped a hero new, 
Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. 

How beautiful to see 
Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed, 
Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead ; 
One whose meek flock the people joyed to be, 
Not lured by any cheat of birth, 
But hy his clear-grained human worth, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 75 



And brave old wisdom of sincerity ! 

They knew that outward grace is dust ; 

They could not choose but trust 
In that sure-footed mind's unfaltering skill, 

And supple-tempered will 
That bent like perfect steel to spring again and thrust. 

His was no lonely mountain-peak of mind, 

Thrusting to thin air o'er our cloudy bars ; 

A sea-mark now, now lost in vapors blind ; 

Broad prairie rather, genial, level-lined, 

Fruitful and friendly for all human kind, 
Yet also nigh to Heaven and loved of loftiest stars. 
James Russell Lowell. 



ENGLAND TO AMERICA. 

JAMES ABKAM GARFIELD. 

Silence were best, if hand in hand, 

Like friends, sea-sundered peoples met: 

But words must wing from land to land 
The utterance of the heart's regret, 

Tho' harsh on ears their sorrow thralls 

E'en sympathy's low accent falls. 

Salt leagues that part us check no whit, 
What knows not bounds of time or space, 

The homestead feeling that must knit 
World-scattered kin in speech and race. 

None like ourselves may well bemoan 

Columbia's sorrow ; 'tis our own. 



76 IN MEMORIAM. 



A sorrow of the nobler sort, 

Which love and pride make pure and fair : 
A grief that is not misery's sport, 

A pain thai bows not to despair; 
Beginning not in courtly woe, 
To end in pageantry and show. 

The great Republic's foremost son, 

Struck foully, falls: but they who mourn 

Brave life cut short, good work half done, 
Yet trust that from beyond death's bourne 

That blameless memory's gifts may be 

Peace, concord, civic purity. 

Scarce known of us till struck for death, 

He stirred us by his valiant fighl 
With mortal pain. With bated breath 

We waited tidings morn and night. 
The hope that's nursed by strong desire, 
Tho' shaken often, will not tire. 

And now our sables type, in truth, 

A more than ceremonial pain. 
We send, Court, Cottage, Age and Youth, 

From open hearts across the main, 
Our sympathy — it never swerved — 
To Wife he loved, to Land he served ! 

London Punch. 



_^#1V1 




%>.. 






Speech of General Garfield to his College Classmates 
on the Eve of his Inauguration, 

March 3d, 1881. 

Classmates : To me there is something exceedingly pathetic 
in this reunion. In every eye before me I see the light of 
friendship and love, and I am sure it is reflected back to each 
one of yon from my inmost heart. For twenty-two years, with 
the exception of the last few days, I have been in the public 
service. To night I am a private citizen. To-morrow I shall 
be called to assume new responsibilities, and on the day after 
the broadside of the world's wrath will strike. It will strike 
hard. I know it, and you will know it. Whatever may hap- 
pen to me in the future, I shall feel that I can always fall back 
upon the shoulders and hearts of the class of '56 for their ap- 
proval of that which is right, and for their charitable judg- 
ment wherein I may come short in the discharge of my public 
duties. You may write down in your books now the largest 
percentage of blunders which you think .1 will be likely to 
make, and you will be sure to find in the end that I have made 
more than you have calculated — many more. 

This honor comes to me unsought. I have never had the 
Presidential fever — not even for a day ; nor have I it to-night. 
I have no feeling of elation in view of the position I am called 
upon to fill. I would thank God were I today a free lance in 
the House or the Senate. But it is not to be, and I will go 
forward to meet the responsibilities and discharge the duties 
that are before me with all the firmness and ability I can com- 
mand. I hope you will be able conscientiously to approve my 
conduct, and when I return to private life I wish you to give 
me another class meeting. 



80 IX MEMORIAM. 



His Gratitude to Friends on recovering from a dan- 
gerous Illness : 

We give below a letter written by the late President Garfield, 
and which now appears in print for the first time. It was ad- 
dressed to Mr. C. E. Fuller, now of Des Moines, who had been 
a room-mate of the lamented President while at college, and 
who was ever after a life-long friend. At the time this letter 
was written the future President had just recovered from a 
dangerous illness, and his expression of gratitude for the love 
and sympathy of friends seems strangely prophetic now. It 
would seem almost that the same letter might have been written 
by the same hand only a month ago : 

Williams College, ) 

Aug. 10, 1854. J 

My Dear Sir: I have been down near to the gates of the 
''Silent City'' since last I wrote to you. Perhaps it were better 
had I entered — God knoweth. But the crisis is passed and I 
am slowly returning now. Your kind, good letter was received 
to-day, and I will respond immediately. I think I told you in 
my other that I had taken cold nearly every night since I came, 
and had had a severe headache for about ten days. I, however, 
kept on studying until Friday, the 4th, when the hot water 
streamed from my eyes so that I cculd not see, and I was 
obliged to stop and send for a physician. He feared I would 
have inflammation of the brain or brain fever, gave me medi- 
cine and forbid my reading at all. Friday, Saturday, and Sun- 
day I endured the most agonizing pain, but on Sunday after- 
noon it began to subside, but I found it had wrought ruin with 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 81 



my strength, for when I tried to walk I was weak as a child. I 
have walked but little since, and. am still weak, though gaining 
strength. I shall doubtless be quite recovered before long, 
though I cannot study any more this session. * * * Oh, 
how much I have felt the absence of dear friends during these 
long dreary hours of pain ! I must subjoin some lines that have 
been ringing through the chambers of my soul, and though I 
do nol know the name of the author, yet they possess the ele- 
ments of immortality. I know you will love them and feel 
them : 

"Commend me to the friend that comes 
When I am sad and lone, 
And makes the anguish of my heart 

The suffering of his own : 
Wlio coldly shuns the glittering throng 

At pleasure's gay levee, 
And comes to gild a sombre hour 
And give his heart to me. 

He hears me count my sorrows o"er, 

And when the task is done 
He freely gives me all I ask — 

A sigh for every one. 
He cannot wear a smiling face 

When mine is touched with gloom, 
But like the violet seeks to cheer 

The midnight with perfume. 

Commend me to that generous heart 

Which like the pine on high 
Uplifts the same unvarying brow 

To every change of sky: 
Whose friendship does not fade away 

When Wintry tempests blow, 
But like the Winter's icy crown 

Looks greener through the snow. 

He flies not with the flitting stork, 
That seeks a Southern sky. 



82 IN" MEMORIAM. 



But lingers where the wounded bird 

llnth lii ill him down, to du . 
Oh. such a friend! Be is in truth 

What'er his lot may be, 
A rainbow on the storm of life, 

An anchor on it- sea." 



Thank God, I enjoy such friends as that, though they are 
not with me. But I must stop. * ' :: ' I need not say I 

am, as ever, your brother, James. 

Des Moines Registt r. 



General Garfield's Remarks on the First Anniversary 
of the Death of Abraham Lincoln: 

Mr. Speaker: I desire to move that this house do now 

adjourn. And before the vote upon that motion is taken I 
desire to say a few words. This day, Mr. Speaker, will be sadly 
memorable so long as this nation shall endure, which God -rant 
may be '"till the last syllable of recorded time," when the vol- 
ume of human history is sealed up and delivered to the Omni- 
potent Judge. In all future time on the recurrence < >f this day, 
I doubt not that the citizens of this republic will meet in solemn 
assembly to reflect on the life and character of Abraham Lin- 
coln, and the awful, tragic event of April 14, 1S65— an event 
unparelleled in the history of nations, certainly unparelleled in 
our own. It is eminently proper that this house should this 
dav place upon its records a memorial of that event. 

The last five years have been marked by wonderful develop- 
ments of individual character. Thousands of our people, before 
unknown to fame, have taken their places in history, crowned 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 83 



with immortal honors. In thousands of humble homes are 
dwelling heroes and patriots, whose names shall never die. But 
greatest among all these great developments were the character 
and fame of Abraham Lincoln, whose loss the Nation still 
deplores. His character is aptly described in the words of 
England's great laureate, written thirty years ago, in which he 
traces the upward steps of some — 

"Divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began, 
And on a simple village green; 

"Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 
And grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
And breasts the blows of circumstance, 
And grapples with his evil star; 

"Who makes, by force, his merit known, 
And lives to clutch the golden keys 
To mold a mighty state's decrees, 
And shape the whisper of the throne; 

"And moving up, from high to higher, 
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope. 
The pillar of a People's hope, 
The center of a World's desire." 

Such a life and character will be treasured forever as the 
sacred possession of the American people and of mankind. 

In the great drama of the rebellion there were two acts. The 
first was the war, with its battles and its sieges, victories and 
defeats, its sufferings and tears. That act was closing one year 
ago to-night, and just as the curtain was lifting on the second 
scene and final act — the restoration of peace and liberty — just 
as the curtain was rising on new characters and new events, the 
evil spirit of the rebellion, in the fury of despair, nerved and 
directed the hand of an assassin to strike the chief character 



84 IX MEMORIAM. 



of both. It was no one man who killed Abraham Lincoln : it 
was the embodied spiril of treason and slavery, inspired with 
fearful and despairing hate, that struck himdowninthemomenl 
of the Nation's supremesl joy. 

Sir, there arc times in the history of men and Dations when 
they stand so near the veil that separates mortals from immor 
tals, time from eternity, and men from their < rod, that they can 
almost hear the beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart of 
the Infinite, Through such a time has this Nation pa 
When two hundred and fifty thousand brave spirits passed 
from the held of honor through thai thin veil into the presence 
of God, and when at lasl its parting folds admitted the martyr 
president to the company of these dead heroes of the republic, 
the nation stood so near the veil that the whispers of God were 
heard by children of men. 

Awe-stricken by His voice, the American people knelt in 
tearful reverence, and made a solemn covenant with Him and 
with each other thai this Nation should 1 e saved from its ene- 
mies: that all its glories should be restored, and on the ruins 
of slavery and treason the temples of freedom and justice 
should be built and should survive forever. It remains for us, 
c >nsecrated by that great event and under a covenant with God, 
to keep that faith, to go forward in the great work until it shal] 
be completed. Following the lead of that great man. and obey- 
ing the high behests of God, let us remember that — 

"He has sounded forth* a trumpet that shall never call retreat : 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment - it; 

Be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant my feet, 
For God is marching on !'' 



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